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Anonymous User ID for each sGTM Requests

Learn how to integrate hashed User ID as custom request header variables into your Server-Side Tag Manager (sGTM).

BD
Berkay Demirbas
CTO
18.02.2024

Unlike client-side tagging, server-side tagging allows you to manipulate data in each request to your website or app.

While utilizing this manipulation structure in server-side requests for user privacy, you can also use it for hiding business sensitive data.

In this post, we will explore how each request to the server-side tag is anonymized by Hardal servers and how you can send the hashed x-hardal-user-id data as a variable from GTM to GA4.

The x-hardal-user-id is created by combining a hash of the following elements:

  • User IP Address: We do not store IPs, discard and redact on server logs them upon hash combination.
  • User-Agent: This includes information about the user's device, such as Chrome, Firefox, etc.
  • Hostname: This represents the user's request host name.

You can only see this this data as request header on sGTM Preview mode.

Learn how to configure your Server-Side Tag Manager to send the x-hardal-user-id data as a variable from Google Tag Manager (GTM) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or BigQuery.

Get details here about streaming to BigQuery from server-side GTM.

  • Go to your server-side container
  • Create a new user-defined variable called User ID
  • Choose Request Header
  • Name it x-hardal-user-id

creating variable in server-side GTM

  • Go to your server-side container
  • Go to your Google Tag configuration
  • Add as user property your User ID

Send Anonymous and Hashed User ID to GA4

That's all, you can now override original user_id user properties with this hashed and secure value. 🔐

server-side GTM custom request headers

  • Enhanced User Privacy: Implementing anonymization ensures that user data is protected, aligning with privacy regulations.

  • Accurate Analytics in BigQuery: Sending the x-hardal-user-id data as a variable enhances the accuracy of analytics through Google Analytics 4 to BigQuery using server-side Google Tag Manager.

By following these steps, you can able to use server-side tagging for both user privacy and optimizing data handling within your server-side measurement stack.

Ready to take control of your server-side measurement? Sign up for a free trial or request a free demo to experience the new way of server-side tagging, without burnout! 🔥